Last updated at 16:11, Friday, 04 November 2011

Cumbria's first anerobic digester at Dryholme Farm, near Silloth, started supplying electricity to the national grid today.

The £4 million plant owned by Farmgen was switched on by north west MEP Sajjad Karim at 10.30am – about a month later than first planned. It was part-funded with £350,000 from Nuclear Management Partners, as part of the Britain’s Energy Coast initiative.

Work started in January but costs spiralled from £3m to £4m after the bill for grid connection rose to £400,000.

Once up and running, the plant will produce 1.2MW of electricity, enough to power 2,200 homes and have a huge appetite for thousands of tonnes of crops and farm waste. Farmgen has planning permission to build a second plant at High Head Castle Farm in Ivegill. It also hopes to double the size of the Dryholme digester.

Community Renewable Energy North West (CoRE NW) has planning permission for two digesters at Blackdyke, Silloth, and Kirkbride Industrial Estate.

CoRE NW has set up co-operatives of farmers to own, run and supply the plants. Work is to start at Kirkbride before the end of the year.

First published at 14:11, Friday, 04 November 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk